1,277 FATHER JOHN MISTY and the BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA play the songs of SCOTT WALKER, London Barbican Theatre, Friday 19th May 2023

 

Somewhat of an opportunity missed, this one, but let’s give it the usual positioning preamble…

One of my lesser-known musical pleasures (I hesitate before calling it a “guilty” pleasure; to my mind you should like what the damn hell you like, and never feel guilty about it…) has always been the lush symphonic and harmonic delights of 60’s vocal combo The Walker Brothers, and maverick main-man Scott Walker’s subsequent 5 late 60’s solo efforts, “Scott 1”-“4” and “Till The Band Comes In”. Quite a brilliant body of work, this, a widescreen and luxuriant sound varying from orchestral-backed 60’s teen pop anthems, through Jacques Brel-penned baroque tales of the sleazy underbelly of society, to Scott’s own cutting-edge and off-the-wall later compositions. Albums I return to again and again, and especially (and sadly ironically, as it turned out), to my favourite “Scott 2”. I’m in good company too, with the likes of Ian McCulloch, Julian Cope and Jarvis Cocker all self-confessed Scott fanatics… Anyway, the enigmatic and reclusive Scott was barely seen out in public from the 80’s onwards, let alone treading the boards “live”, and his sparse releases became denser, more challenging and (in the case of 2006’s “The Drift”) pretty much unlistenable. His death in 2019 nonetheless robbed us of a true musical icon and tortured genius.

So I’d long since resigned myself to never hearing Scott’s material “live”; however I chanced upon an ad for this event on facebook and acted immediately, eager to put a lie to that assumption. I knew – and still know – very little about Father John Misty; I’d enjoyed the tight harmonies of his former band Fleet Foxes’ debut album, but found subsequent FF stuff too trad-countrified for my liking, and have totally blanked on his solo career to date. However, checking out a few slow burn, doomy alt-Americana tracks on YouTube, it certainly seemed as though he had the voice to carry this material off (unlike the aforementioned Jarvo, who sadly didn’t, at the 2017 Proms Scott Walker tribute). So off I drove off mid-afternoon on this May Friday, parking up at Osterley as usual for a tube over to St. Pauls, then wandering through tunnelled streets to this relatively new-build, brutalist and labyrinthine concrete block of a building. Showtime was imminent so I passed the time in the expensive Barbican gift shop, then took my allotted seat P2, extreme house right but with a fine view from my very comfortable seats. Most comfortable gig seats evah? Quite possibly!

The Orchestra was already assembled by the intended 7.30 start, but there were a few minutes of lull before the lights dimmed to polite applause, then Father John Misty and the Orchestras conductor Jules Buckley took the stage. The lights faded to black in the auditorium, and a mournful oboe solo was then overlaid by a staccato violin for opener “Montague Terrace (In Blue)”, the orchestral build for the huge soaring chorus a rather splendid feature. A quieter, melancholy “It’s Raining Today” followed, before Misty remarked, “I’ve memorised all the words [for the set] but never sung them, so I have a back up [teleprompter] but it’s not working… so you can retroactively appreciate my performance even more now!”

 And it was a splendid performance from Misty himself; a higher register than Walker’s own deep, sonorous baritone, maybe, he nonetheless was a fine singer, able to carry the more stripped back, sombre material such as a later “Two Ragged Soldiers” as well as compete with the dissonant and ascending orchestral swell of “Boy Child”, and the lush accompaniments of a later “You’re On Your Own Again”. “The Seventh Seal”’s dramatic trumpet opening, blending into an absorbing and haunting Tex-Mex parable powered in no small part by the impressive choir, was an early highlight, garnering the biggest ovation of the set, a subsequent “Copenhagen” changing the mood and evoking sun-dappled city streets with its’ string accompaniments.

Conductor Buckley then spoke eloquently about the performance and the honour of working on Walker’s arrangements (“you can’t underestimate how visionary and avant-garde his music was”) before introducing the orchestra sections, then finally giving kudos to Misty himself, albeit using his given name Josh Tillman. “Such A Small Love” was a return to the orchestral “pop” Scott; “Duchess” a more slow-burn and countrified swayalong, then the elegiac double bass opening into a bleak, gothic rendition of “Tilt”’s “Farmer In The City” required a suitable mournful and yearning vocal from Misty, the man delivering with his best vocal performance of the evening.

The lights then raised as Misty and Buckley took a bow to rapturous applause and departed for what I initially thought was an intermission… however as they returned, and Misty beckoned us all to stand for a rousing and splendidly chorally backed “The Old Man’s Back Again” it became evident that this was it, and “Old Man” was the encore! True enough, Misty and Buckley then took another bow as the house lights raised, and off they went – well before 9, after a 1 hour 20 tops performance! Mystified, I remarked to the chap to my right, a fellow solo flyer from Brighton, “is that it? I expected WAAAAY more!”, his reply being, “well at least I can get an early train back!”

I trotted down to the front, acquired the band guitarist’s list then paused in the auditorium awhile (spotting very tall comedian Rob Delaney in the milling crowd) before the tube journey back to the car, home at midnight after a frustrating detour through inky black Berkshire country lanes behind an utter idiot, thanks to an M4 closure. Don’t get me wrong; Misty was a splendid singer, the Orchestra accomplished and perfect backing for Scott’s material, and “Seventh Seal”, tonight’s highlight, was particularly rather wonderful. I just expected at least 2 hours for my steep £45 ticket price (given no support), and I was gutted that “Scott 2” was totally unrepresented tonight. So, an excellent performance, but still an opportunity missed for me…